N’Golo Kante wants London return as West Ham United open talks with Al-Ittihad for transfer
N’Golo Kante would prefer to return to London if he leaves Al-Ittihad this summer amid interest from West Ham, according to GiveMeSport.
Writing on their website (19 July), the news outlet report that the Hammers are open to a £20million deal [Guardian, 18 July] for the 33-year-old World Cup winner after being alerted to his desire to return from Saudi Arabia after just one year.
The two-time Premier League winner is willing to take a pay cut from his £400,000 per-week wages to seal a deal too, however he won’t look to push through a move out of respect to his current club getting him back into the international fold with France [L’Equipe, 19 July]
West Ham United have advantage in N’Golo Kante race
There isn’t a football club in the world that wouldn’t be better without having Kante in their squad, but there are a number of things to consider now.
He is 33-years-old now and after several years of injury problems towards the end of his time at Chelsea, he is only just getting back into his groove.
If he wants a return to London then that’s a positive for West Ham too, because the other London clubs either can’t compete financially (Crystal Palace and Brentford), are looking for different profiles (Tottenham and Chelsea) or already have better options (Arsenal).
The £20million fee would be decent, but Sky Sports Germany [19 July] report any fee to get a deal done would be significantly higher than that and that would be a worry.
If Tim Steidten and Julen Lopetegui want a deal to be done, it’s clearly available for them, but they mustn’t get tunnel vision and go all-out. There are other alternatives and easier deals to do, so don’t get taken to the cleaners on a gamble.
In other West Ham news, a player is close to sealing a £37m move to the London Stadium.
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